New San Jose Airport

After bad mouthing San Jose airport for years, the new terminal is pretty nice.

Richard

Posted via email from Richard Treadway's Live Stream

The Importance of the Long Tail

Nielson recently posted data on how engaging brand in the "long tail" are fairing. The data shows that we spend less time at long tail sites and more time at the top sites.



The conclusion is that long tail isn't where the future business is at least not just yet.

"What does this amount to? As much as anyone thinks the future is in the long tail, it’s just not the case-at least not yet. In fact, consumers feel more comfortable on large, mass media sites. We know the Internet is changing. We know there are more blogs, boards, tweets and social networks than ever before. But what’s also clear is that while the Internet itself is fragmenting (like all other media), people continue to spend their time on the sites that offer them the most options and functionality."

But the numbers don't support that conclusion. The numbers are simply a reflection of the fact the long tail is a power curve.

Chris Anderson’s theory of the long tail states that as the cost of distribution approaches zero the demand is infinitely eclectic. The long tail is a special power curve that stretches out forever. With a power curve you would expect people to spend the most time at the top sites and the least time in the less popular sites. Most people have more than one specialized interest and will spend a little time at each long tail site. The entry point to the long tail is usually the top sites explaining why there is more time spent there.

A more interesting measure would be total time in the long tail not the average time.

When Will Internet Access Be Like Electricity

My recent stay at the Westin Kierland reminded me we are still a long way from Internet access being treated like a service utility. The Internet service at the Westin was particularly expensive and very SLOOW. Additionally the business center charged for use of their computers by the minute requiring you to submit a credit card to a reader that held it for the duration of your session. It cost me $5 to login and print my boarding pass.



Additionally there was no free WIFI access in the lobby. When I complained to the concierge I was told the reason... to discourage Internet use. Well it worked, I barely used it. But that attitude is bucking what is surely the trend to a more readily accessible Internet. Think of it; Charging for Internet access in a hotel is like charging for use of the electricity. Think how many complaints there would if a hotel required you to swipe your credit card to turn on the lights? Why should Internet access be any different?

Coming Soon: Access Your Data and Applications Anywhere

I’ve often thought the time will come when you will carry all your data and applications in your pocket to be accessed whenever you need on what every computer and connection is available. This makes sense when you think about it. You don’t carry a TV around with you; you expect one to be in your hotel room. So why should you carry a heavy laptop around when you only need the power and the screen real estate on occasion. On my recent trip to Italy I lugged my lap top along and ended up never using it. My iPhone was all I needed. But I didn’t need to create any graphic designs or write any code.

I look to Steve Rubel as being on the forefront of the traveling user’s work paradigm. He correctly points out we’ll be using more devices not fewer. There won’t be a single device to meet all your needs. Certain applications require large screens and faster, larger computers others don’t. But what ever your computing needs you shouldn’t have to have your data distributed all over the multitude of devices that run the applications.

As Steve points out:

” With PCs and desktops everywhere we'll be soon booting more off USB drives. Linux, Google Chrome OS, Mac OS X and Windows, etc. will all run off portable USB drives that we'll tote from PC to PC (or in Apple's case, Macs to Macs). The OS and its entire suite of applications will run off the devices which ensures your data stays yours.”

Steve uses a PC desktop at work, at home a Mac, on the road a netbook, and everywhere else an iPhone. With all his data is in the cloud the majority of the time all he needs is a browser.

The day is coming where all you’ll need is a smart phone and a secure USB drive that will have every OS and application you use available for use on the device they run on.

I’m looking forward to it.

Curl eyeDecide Application

Today Curl made available their newest example of an RIA "fit client" application, called Curl eyeDecide. It was designed by Involution Studios and implemented by on Version 7. The application features complex visual analysis of global data from Gapminder.org and demonstrates the value of visualization in the analysis of complex data.

We think you'll have a lot of fun playing with the application performing data analysis to see global trends. As always the application is available in source form here.

Watch a video demonstration of the application here.